A critical review of the analysis of experimental island densities was presented in terms of the barriers and pre-factors for tracer diffusion at surfaces. The precision that was possible, for methods ranging from the simple application of scaling laws, was investigated via integration of the mean-field rate equations within various approximations for the capture rates. Experimental methods were introduced in order to test for dimer diffusion and dissociation, as well as for the transient mobility of monomers.

Measuring Surface Diffusion from Nucleation Island Densities. H.Brune, G.S.Bales, J.Jacobsen, C.Boragno, K.Kern: Physical Review B, 1999, 60[8], 5991-6006